IT is now patently obvious that central government’s continued cuts to local authorities show its intentions are to make local governments fund themselves through council tax income and year-on-year rises, which they are doing with vigour despite the caps placed on them.

The only people who suffer through this form of taxation are those of us who have worked and made provision for their future with a pension and those people who are working at present.

For those of us who are forced to pay it, the council tax is now a lifetime mortgage which, instead of decreasing over its term, increases year on year, usually way ahead of inflation.

In addition, through central government, our income taxes still pay for all those on full council tax benefits – do those in power not realise this fact?

Name and address supplied

THE proposal within the new budget for Glasgow City Council to implement charges for bulk uplifts will only exacerbate the problems in clearing up the mess the city and surrounding areas are in at the moment. This will increase fly-tipping and worsen an already deplorable situation as the city is already a massive tip. Economics of the mad house.

I was also watching the harrowing scenes of the chaos and heartache caused by the recent floods in England – why are they not demanding that the UK Government spend the majority of the allocated funding for HS2 on ensuring that proper flood defences are constructed? Getting the basics right in front of vanity projects is surely the priority of any administration.

MA

Glasgow

IF Frank McAveety and his Labour councillors had not wasted a vast amount of money fighting the women for equal pay Glasgow would not be in the financial mess it is.

Name and address supplied

WITH the column inches given to budget considerations, my one observation is that we’ve yet to hear from ANY politician a mechanism that tracks costs and needs that could actually reduce the tax burden on the population.

Baltimore developed a mechanism whereby any job needing done could be tracked and in real time tell you where money needs spent. By the same token, it told you where money didn’t need spending. The upshot was that services could be better targeted and also the tax take was reduced.

Surely such a mechanism should be debated in the City Chambers and indeed Holyrood? Such a move could arguably be seen as Holyrood doing the day job? Just a flippant thought.

Graham

I HOPE that the Greens have pushed forward on recycling in Glasgow. I was amazed to discover that Glaswegians can’t recycle clear plastic or even yoghurt pots! This needs to change and the Scottish Government need to support that change.

Andrew Montgomery

THE tax-paying public have to suffer because much-needed funds are being diverted to yet more vanity projects that will not improve our services, living standards or city – only the egos of the people who passed this budget and who it will not affect.

Ray M

I CAN see lots of new green taxes coming soon for the good people of Glasgow to pay for.

Alan Duggan

THE Walter Mittys that are the Greens are an embarrassment to Glasgow.

Services need to be improved to help with people’s everyday lives, and they want cash for their own projects.

I will never vote Green again as they are just the SNP’s bed partner.

Tommy Cairns

CITY citizens are once again paying the price for poor service, poor management and inefficient council-run services. A lot more to come, I think.

Councils and the government should be held to account for their failings.

The SNP council tax cap is another broken manifesto promise.

Baz B

IT’S about time that the 1980s’ Community Programme was brought back. It was a scheme in which the unemployed went out to work for their benefits and a little more money to pay for lunch, bus fares.

The people that I knew who took part in the scheme used

to say that they felt a sense of pride in that they were working for their benefits instead of being depressed and bored with being unemployed.

Caroline McCord

Derek Forbes = THE Bass (Simple Minds fan convention to take place in Glasgow). Much respect.

Can’t read that name without hearing the blissful opening bars to Love Song.

Lorne Campbell